Bulls must show more desperation than Munster – Wiese

Lock Cobus Wiese said the Bulls need to be more desperate for victory than Munster, come their “highly physical battle” at Loftus on Saturday.

The teams clash in their 14th-round United Rugby Championship match at 2pm in Pretoria with sixth-placed Munster hurting, and needing to bounce back after a 45-0 whitewash defeat to the Sharks in Durban.

The Bulls, at eighth, come from a 40-7 win over Cardiff at Loftus, thanks to a brilliant first-half performance where they scored five of their six tries.

However, the Pretoria union were far less clinical in the second half, highlighting their inconsistent form this season, where a seven-game losing streak was followed by four wins before a defeat to the Stormers, immediately preceding the Cardiff match.

Munster won’t forget Limerick defeat

Munster have lost six of their last eight games and will be especially desperate remembering the last match played between the sides, where the Bulls won 16-13 at Thomond Park to become the first South African side to beat Munster in Ireland, in May last year.

“If you want the simple answer about what we must do to win, it is to be more desperate than they are,” Wiese said on Tuesday.

“If you look at it a bit deeper, any team coming to Loftus wants to make a statement. It’s a tale as old as time: if you dominate the forwards, you’re going to put yourself in a good position to win.

“So, for me personally, and as a pack of forwards, we have to pride ourselves on being physical.”

He said Munster have a quality pack, bolstered by returning Irish internationals.

“Jeremy Loughman is one of the few props in Ireland who can play both sides, so we’ve definitely taken note of that. He’s a quality player and got some game time in the Six Nations.”

The Bulls lock highlighted scrumhalf Craig Casey and flyhalf Jack Crowley as major threats in the backline. Wiese called Crowley the best No 10 in Ireland.

Wiese picks Bulls for family

On a personal level, Cobus Wiese, who played for the Stormers and Sale Sharks before moving to the Bulls in 2024, said he recently opted to stay in Pretoria despite an offer from the Stormers for family reasons.

“It would’ve been an easier decision four years ago with just myself and my fiancée to move around, but now I’ve got a family,” Wiese said.

“I now have a wife, a little girl and we had a boy just two months ago.”

He said coach Johan Ackermann “whispered one or two things in my ear” that he took into consideration, but his daughter was in a good school and the Pretoria community was a good fit.